California's Senate votes to ban BPA in baby products

California’s Senate has passed a ban on bisphenol A in food and drink containers intended for children under the age of 3, putting California on track to become the second or third state to ban the toxic chemical.

Minnesota was the first state to ban BPA and Connecticut is waiting for the governor to sign a ban there.

The California vote was much closer than votes in Minnesota and Connecticut with 21 senators voting yes and 16 voting no. The bill now goes to California’s Assembly and, if approved there, it will go to the desk of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

BPA was first developed as a synthetic estrogen but wasn’t powerful enough for medical use. The chemical found its way into industry when it was discovered that BPA was very effective at hardening plastic and coating food cans. The hormone-disruptor is now found in food containers ranging from baby bottles to cans of soda. BPA leaches out of these containers and into food and drink, manipulating human hormones and leading to health conditions like diabetes, obesity, heart disease and infertility.

As California prepares to ban BPA, the public debate surrounding the chemical has been heating up significantly. Over the weekend media reported that chemical and food industry representatives met privately to discuss how they could turn the tide of public opinion in favor of BPA. The group discussed outrageous plans like using fear tactics to get the public to accept BPA in the food supply and using a pregnant spokeswoman to tout the safety of BPA.

Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak have sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg requesting that the FDA immediately review the safety of BPA. The FDA lost the confidence of many when the media revealed that the agency relied exclusively on chemistry-industry-funded studies when it declared BPA was safe earlier this year. Waxman and Stupak’s letter was sent in response to news of the chemistry industry meeting last week.

"It is critical that we know for certain whether BPA is safe to use in consumer products and food product containers," said Chairman Waxman.  "We need to make sure that FDA thoroughly and fairly reviews the best science on BPA so that the public - and especially infants and children - are protected."

Stay tuned to saferstates.org for updates on the California BPA ban and developments on Waxman and Stupak’s FDA request.